Leaking pipes can be a devastating problem. For example, leaks from water pipes in residential, commercial or institutional type buildings can cause water damage, which is cosmetic or structural in nature; electric failures and fires; and, in freezing weather, ice build up, which can cause structural failure. A particularly worrisome condition, especially in those structures in which some sort of leak control system is installed, is that in which an electrical supply failure and leaking pipes occur simultaneously. Then, too, leaking water pipes cause unnecessarily high bills.
Various prior art discloses devices and methods for detecting leaks in piping systems, and then automatically shutting off the supply to the piping system in order to minimize damage and waste that can be caused by a leak, and so forth. See, e.g., Thompson, U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,070. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,659,383 to Frager; 4,522,229 to Guido; 4,665,932 to Quenin; 5,076,321 to Terry; 5,161,563 to Thompson; 5,347,264 to Bjorkman; 5,539,384 to to Fraser; 5,636,653 to Titus; 5,920,265 Johnson, Jr., et al.; 6,317,051 to Cohen; 6,339,953 to Ashworth; and 6,549,857 to Fierro et al. Prior art approaches generally were insufficiently reliable, unable to discriminate between controlled and uncontrolled pressure drop at very low flow rates, or too complex or expensive to be effectively utilized in many applications.
It would be desirable to ameliorate if not solve completely problems in the art. It would be desirable as well to improve upon the disclosures and approaches of the prior art.